


Anything Else to Add?

by Heart_Seoul_Soshi



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2019-06-08 08:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15239664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Heart_Seoul_Soshi/pseuds/Heart_Seoul_Soshi
Summary: A sprain in Mal's arm puts a dent in her pride, but Mal doesn't need proud and haughty walls to protect her feelings when Evie is there to protect them for her.





	Anything Else to Add?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Awesomesquirrelstuff](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Awesomesquirrelstuff/gifts).



Mal hadn't even wanted to leave her dorm room after she came back with the sling, it was just too embarrassing. She was a girl of The Isle, her very life once depended on running, climbing, turning, tumbling. And now a split-second of distraction on the obstacle course in P.E. had left her with a sprained arm and a defensive glower stuck firmly on her face. Her drawing arm, too. It would figure.

Evie had hovered worriedly all afternoon after getting back from class; Mal had refused to even finish out the day, and with a go-ahead from the nurse, she was allowed not to (not that a lack of permission would've stopped her anyway, she was still that girl of The Isle, after all).

"...M? Come on, let's go down to dinner," sitting at the desk, Evie checked the time and gave up on her attempt at homework by closing her textbook and turning towards Mal.

"Nope," Mal dully said, laying back against her headboard and keeping her eyes fixed on the tv.

"What, are you going to just stay here in the dorm room for weeks until your arm heals?"

"Yep."

Evie made the move from the desk to Mal's bedside slowly, carefully, like Mal might frighten away if approached too suddenly. She only glanced at Evie as she daintily settled on the edge of the bed, just a fleeting and uncaring look before she petulantly locked her gaze back on the tv.

"...I'm so sorry you got hurt today, Mal. But it's not at all like what you're thinking."

"You don't have a clue what I'm thinking," Mal snapped at her, trading a glance for a glare.

"Yes I do, it's exactly what I'd be thinking if it happened to me. I'd be thinking the worst of myself, that I was weak and pathetic, a sorry excuse for a villain."

The way Mal's expression doubly soured and she subtly hugged her sprained arm closer to her chest were the only things Evie needed to tell her she hit the nail on the head.

"It was an accident, okay?" Evie tried to softly instill the truth in Mal. "It couldn't be helped. But it's only a sprain, you'll be alright. No one's going to think any less of you for it, so come on. Let's have dinner."

"Bring me something back," Mal grumbled, turning herself away from Evie with her good arm.

Evie hated that she was so well-acquainted with Mal's stubbornness, the mental digging in of her heels, for she knew there'd be no dragging Mal from her bed tonight.

"...Okay, M," she sighed, getting to her feet. "Text me if you need anything. And I mean anything."

Evie didn't have much of an appetite down in the dining hall, her mind too far away and stuck on Mal. Mal lived on her pride, her toughness, but with her arm wrapped up in that sling after an unfortunate day of P.E., surely she wasn't feeling either. Sometimes Evie wondered if Mal even outmatched  _her_  in how she kept up appearances, concerned herself with what people thought of her. If she was seen as anything other than Mal of The Isle, vicious villainess and daughter of Maleficent, if she let even the tiniest chip crack her armor...

When Evie came back from her barely-touched dinner Mal was exactly where she'd left her; parked on the bed and glowering at the tv screen like it'd personally insulted her.

"...How are you doing? Do you need more aspirin?" Evie asked.

"I'm fine," Mal grunted.

As if she'd ever admit otherwise.

"I got you a sandwich," Evie said, holding up a small paper bag from the dining hall.

"Cool. I can eat it with one hand."

"...Or maybe we can just go to sleep. You've had a long day, after all. I can help you with your pajamas—"

"I don't need you babysitting me!" Mal shouted, eyes threatening to flash as she whipped her head around to Evie.

Evie had her pride too, just as Mal did. Any other time, she would've shouted back, refusing to be treated in such a way by anyone, not even Mal. Any other time, but not this time.

"...I'm only trying to help," she quietly murmured.

Contrary to popular belief, Mal did occasionally feel guilt, and remorse. Especially when a pair of soft brown eyes cast themselves away from her as if in shame.

"...Evie, I'm sorry," Mal sincerely apologized. "This sling is just stupid, and  _I_  look stupid, and this whole sprained arm thing is—"

"You don't look stupid," Evie was quick to interrupt, crossing the carpet to stand over Mal's bed.

"It could've at least had the decency to break, but no, all I get stuck with is this sissy sprain," Mal went rambling on.

"Would you just—"

"Evie! Come on!! You know I look ridiculous!" Again, Mal was back to yelling. "I'm Mal, I'm the Isle girl, I'm—I don't know—baddest of the bad! And...if my mom could see me right now..."

"She can't."

Needing no invitation, Evie climbed up next to Mal on her bed, sitting in front of her and leaning in close to seriously meet her eyes.

"She can't see you Mal, okay? What she would think or how she would feel about you spraining your arm in P.E. doesn't matter, because she's not here. And for that matter, neither does what anyone else thinks of you. You got hurt, and if an Auradon kid is going to give you a hard time for getting hurt, then maybe they aren't the perfect little goody two-shoes they think they are."

Mal's face settled into a bit of a pout, a petulant frown, knowing that Evie was right. Evie was always right, a simple fact of life. The sky was blue. Grass was green. Evie was right.

The next morning, sleep and soft brown eyes had succeeded in lightening Mal's mood just the tiniest fraction, just enough for her to reluctantly agree to head down to breakfast with Evie after they'd both changed from their pajamas. Mal was grimly looking at herself in the mirror before they left the dorm, looking at how her arm hung limply and lamely in its sling. Like some kind of wounded bird, a once-dangerous raven, talons sharp and beak piercing but wing still clipped, utterly useless.

"You look pretty today," Evie flipped the miserable sight of Mal's reflection on its head by coming up behind her and pointing out only the good.

"I still look ridiculous," Mal muttered.

"What about me?" Evie prodded. "If I went down to the obstacle course right now and got my own arm sprained, would I look ridiculous with a sling?"

"What?" Mal turned around to meet Evie face to face. "Of course not, you'd—"

"So what makes you any different?"

The sky was blue. Grass was green. Evie was right.

To say that Mal was stunned as they made their way to the dining hall was an understatement, as most everyone they passed came at her with gasps and a surprised "Mal, what happened??", or a strikingly concerned "Are you okay?", and even a couple sincere words of "Oh, I'm so sorry!" If Evie were anyone other than Evie, a smug smile would have been plastered on her face with the oh-so-satisfying proof before her of just  _how_  right she was. No one was making fun of Mal, or thinking any less of her, or threatening her pride and toughness by taking cheap shots at an injured villain they knew they could get away with tormenting.

"...Where are the boys?" Mal wondered.

Jay and Carlos, who seemed to have a front row seat to anything involving food, were nowhere to be found in the dining hall.

"Carlos said something about morning Tourney practice," Evie recalled, pulling out a chair for Mal.

"Think that means we'll actually get to eat today?" Mal joked.

Evie laughed right along with her.

"Just sit, Mal. I'll get our breakfast."

Mal didn't care to sit, she would rather be up and waiting at Evie's side, but her best friend was insistent. Although if Evie went on to insist on feeding her, Mal might have to put her foot down...but saying no to Evie just wasn't a thing she was too good at anymore.

"Oh, Mal! What happened?"

Audrey's voice drew Mal's eyes up, to where the princess was standing over the other side of the table.

"It's nothing," Mal said, eyes narrowing. At any given time, Audrey was the last one she wanted to be bothered with.

"It doesn't look like nothing. The daughter of Maleficent with a broken arm?"

"It isn't broken, it's just—"

Mal stopped in her explanations, just then. Because Audrey was laughing.

"Oh, that is so sad!" the words didn't fit the quickly uncontrollable giggles. "How did you manage that?"

"...Obstacle course in P.E.," Mal really wasn't sure why she was answering.

She honestly should've just kept her mouth shut.

Chad Charming, in all his wide-eyed idiocy, was never far from Audrey's side, and the sound of her amusement drew him out from wherever he was lurking like one magnet draws out another.

"What's so funny?" he questioned, already grinning his insufferable grin.

_"That's_  so funny!" Audrey pointed to where Mal sat and seemed to shrink in on herself, like some silent spell could make her utterly disappear from sight and away from the jeers of the Auradon kids.

Wasn't she going to fight back? The infamous daughter of Maleficent, mistress of all evil, being mocked by a common prince and princess? If she'd learned anything from The Isle, it was that she didn't need two hands to knock someone senseless, so really, was she going to just sit there and take it?

She wouldn't have, if only it didn't hurt so much.

Mal, hurt. Physically, yes, but like this?

"Some villain!" Chad jeered.

"And to think my father could've done without an enchanted sword to defeat Maleficent. All she needed was a bad fall!"

Mal hadn't even wanted to think about what would happen if her mother ever saw her with a sprained arm, but now the arm was the least of her worries. Just the very idea of Maleficent seeing or even  _hearing_  that Audrey, daughter of Aurora, had the nerve to torment Mal, and that Mal just sat there hugging her arm close and casting her eyes down. Like a weakling, predator suddenly turned prey. She was weak after all, a disgrace to the name of villain and the name of Maleficent. No good at anything, not even an obstacle course.

"Well, I'm glad to see we're all having such fun here."

Evie's cool tone startled Mal, sounding behind her all of a sudden and making her jump in her seat.

Chad and Audrey turned pale in seconds.

Evie dropped hers and Mal's trays onto the table with a heavy clatter, jostling piles of fresh fruit and sending boiled eggs rolling.

"So we think Mal getting hurt is funny?" Evie crossed her arms, standing steadfastly behind Mal's chair. "We think laughing at her when she can't fight back is hilarious?"

Chad started to stammer under the ice in Evie's eyes, in a very un-royal way.

"W-we were j-just—"

Evie holding up a single finger was all it took to shut him up.

"I'm still talking," she said. "You guys think you're such wonderful Auradon kids? Shining examples of goodness and heart and virtue? Well let me clue you in. Kicking Mal while she's down? Preying on the weak? Those are the traits of  _villains."_

Ice glistening sharply in Evie's eyes melted away as the prince and princess watched, melted away by the licking and lapping flames that sprang to life behind a wall of warm brown.

"Now if you two don't back off, right this second, you'll find out exactly what happens to villains in Auradon," the flames burst into a bonafide inferno. "And if I ever catch you messing with Mal again, being put in slings of your own will be the  _least_ of your problems!!"

When Audrey ducked behind Chad with a fearful squeak, some last-chance call to action sounded within the walls of his thick head, the final and minuscule thread of his princely pride demanding that he stand up for himself and his maiden fair.

"H-hey, you can't just threaten us like—"

"Try a full-body cast, Chad!!" Evie lunged for him, almost leaping across the table like a fierce wildcat.

Chad and Audrey scattered, bolting like lightning as they raced away. Evie seriously considered giving chase for a moment, abandoning her own princess standards to tail them and truly instill a healthy sense of terror and fear for their lives. As it were, she simply settled a hand on Mal's shoulder and squeezed, her quiet assurance of  _"I'm right here."_

"...You didn't have to do that," Mal whispered, hanging her head. "Threatening to snap those two in half could get you in trouble."

"Please, Mal. Trouble is my middle name."

Evie took her seat next to Mal at the table.

"Nobody gets away with hurting you, not while I'm around," she said. "As a matter of fact, tonight I'm taking a sledgehammer to that stupid obstacle course, too."

She actually managed to make Mal laugh, a real and delighted laugh.

"M, I don't think you realize it, but you protected me so much when we were on The Isle. Who would I be if I didn't protect you too? ...It kind of seems like no matter where we go, there's always going to be a villain, so if we don't keep each other safe from them, no one else will."

"We're supposed to be the villains," Mal said a bit dejectedly, still stinging from the cruel laughter and the pointing fingers.

"I don't know, Mal. A villain isn't supposed to care about anyone, after all."

"Oh...well, I care about you," Mal said, looking to Evie with her strikingly innocent eyes.

With her good arm laying useless in its sling, Mal was in no position to fight off a warm hug from Evie—not that she particularly wanted to, in the first place.

"I care about you too, M," Evie whispered, being careful with Mal as she held her.

Suddenly, Mal was very interested in her sprain; specifically, recovering from it. Because someday, she was going to hug Evie back. Not just sitting there silently, but taking Evie into both of her arms and holding her close,  _keeping_  her close, making her warm and safe and wanted without some silly sling getting in the way. One fierce hug between them was now Mal's newest dream.

And the sooner it came true, the better.


End file.
